


The Last

by karelian



Category: Actor RPF, Australian Actor RPF, British Actor RPF
Genre: Actors, Confessions, Epic Bromance, Falling In Love, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Kissing, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Making Love, Married Life, Older Characters, Open Marriage, Oral Sex, Plans, Reunions, Romantic Friendship, Texting, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-05
Updated: 2011-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-20 10:47:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1507748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karelian/pseuds/karelian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ever think we're only meant to fall in love a certain number of times & at our ages we must be reaching the end?" <i>The King's Speech</i>-era RPF.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot be held responsible if Colin Firth keeps declaring his love for Geoffrey Rush at every public venue and talk show. Warning: Possible use of phrases that neither an Aussie nor a Brit would use. For my Bertie.

"Be careful," warned Jane with a wry smile. "I think it's more than just a filming crush."

Geoffrey laughed and told her that she was seeing things. Colin was an adult -- in some ways the most adult actor Geoffrey had worked with since he himself had been quite young -- and it only seemed like a longer-than-usual crush because they'd both been playing up the bromance angle for the media.

But Jane put her hand on his face, shook her head, and said, "Still, be careful. You could hurt him if you're not," before she sent Geoffrey off with a forgiving kiss.

It was silly, Geoffrey thought cheerfully as he texted his itinerary to Colin, who had been polite enough to offer to meet him at Heathrow. But Colin didn't need a crowd noticing him, which was sure to happen if Colin was spotted in an airport lounge, and Geoffrey didn't need the embarrassment of trying to escape unnoticed with Colin. He suggested instead that they have dinner together, after he'd had a chance to settle in and wash, and Colin readily agreed.

Colin was sure to take him to an excellent pub and haggle with him over the bill, since Colin always insisted on paying to make up for taking Geoffrey someplace more expensive and more remote than the usual tourist haunts, where the other patrons wouldn't be too busy or too British to ignore them. Geoffrey grinned as he glanced out the window of the car his publicist had sent to have him picked up, thinking that it would be so nice to carry on a conversation that didn't require typed abbreviations or ellipses.

He forgot all about Jane's words until he was nearly at the hotel. His mobile vibrated in his pocket, and with a smile he pulled it out.

_Ever think we're only meant to fall in love a certain number of times & at our ages we must be reaching the end?_

Because it seemed like the sort of existential dilemma that might obsess Colin when he'd drunk too much, Geoffrey chuckled as he typed on the tiny keyboard. _Maybe we became actors b/c it allows us to fall in love every time we start a new project._

_Maybe it happens to you more easily. But I look at you & think what if you're my last one & I let you go w/o saying so because I'm afraid?_

Geoffrey could feel his smile freezing on his face, though the words made him start to sweat as though the taxi driver had narrowly averted an accident. _I'm 10 years older than you are & like to think I haven't lost the capacity to fall in love_, he sent, then quickly followed it up with, _Though these days it's more about talk than anything else._

If Colin had been there, saying these things in person, Geoffrey would have shifted the conversation to the surprise of being asked to film sex scenes at his age and tried to have a laugh. Though if Colin had been there in person, Geoffrey could have jammed his hands in his pockets so that Colin couldn't see that they were shaking, whereas he couldn't type on his phone's tiny keyboard if he did that.

It was very, very early in the morning back home when he called -- Geoffrey was too out of sorts even to check the time difference. He'd texted Jane when his plane had landed, though he hadn't really expected her to check her mobile till morning. So she knew that something must have changed merely from the fact of his calling, even before he said, "You were right."

"Are you all right?" she asked, which was not the question he'd been anticipating -- given that she had warned him against hurting Colin when he left, he'd assumed it was Colin's feelings that seemed vulnerable to her. When he replied too quickly that of course he was all right, she laughed softly and said, "Don't let him talk you into anything he couldn't tell _his_ wife about," and they laughed a bit about how willingly Colin put himself on Livia's leash, then the conversation moved on to work and the meetings Geoffrey had the next morning beginning at an hour nearly as early as the current one in Melbourne.

Jane was right as usual. While she would forgive Geoffrey for anything as long as he didn't try to keep it a secret from her, Geoffrey suspected that it was the opposite with Colin's wife. Livia might be willing to let Colin loose only for as long as she didn't guess or at least could deny that there was anything more complicated than friendship in the flurry of texts and calls that had followed all the extra rehearsals and unnecessary meetings from when Colin and Geoffrey had worked together. Even if Livia never had any clue about the words Colin had sent to the taxi, Geoffrey feared that the hint of annoyance about the frequency of contact that could easily turn to resentment.

Geoffrey hadn't had to ask himself before how much these brief yet regular conversations meant to him. If Colin ever felt guilty about them, then they would die away, and the long-distance relationship that Geoffrey now had to admit mattered to him more than some of his best friends near home would die as well. There had to be no cause for resentment, then. No secrets, no passion, even though Colin had ripped through all the safer words and now Geoffrey had to figure out a way to live with that -- and what if Colin was right, what if this _was_ the last time he ever fell in love, and he shoved it aside out of fear?

It was still better to hold on to the things he could have than to start dreaming about what wasn't possible. After all, even if Livia didn't mind, Geoffrey would be half a world away from Colin in a few days, and either way, the mobile would be all they had to keep them connected. Unfortunately, that was a disquieting rather than a comforting thought. He was going to have to plead jet lag the next day at the early meeting when he couldn't keep his focus on the matters at hand.

The mobile buzzed, making Geoffrey give a guilty start. _Just as well I'm better at talk than anything else_ , Colin had written, then signed off, _Yrs. Alice B Toklas_. Usually it was friends or sisters, not lesbians. Though when someone had compared the Banger Sisters to Thelma and Louise, Susan had said that the former had only slept together during drunken rock orgies, implying that she thought there was much more between the latter two...

Fuck. It wasn't worth overthinking this. Colin texted again while Geoffrey was on his way to the lift, saying that it might be too cold for long walks and asking whether Geoffrey wanted to stay close or take a taxi to some exotic place Colin knew of near Catford.

 _Can we run away on the Chunnel train?_ Geoffrey had replied.

_Thought you might never ask love._

That word. Colin had said it before, but never to Geoffrey, precisely -- about him, in speeches about their friendship and at that tribute in Santa Barbara where Geoffrey had felt like he was getting a glimpse of what his own funeral would be like, where all the fawning had seemed excessive and he'd assumed Colin was merely rising to the hyperbole of the occasion. He'd told Colin that he'd meet him in the lobby, but at five minutes past the hour, he was still locked safely in his room, texting, because that seemed safer somehow than calling.

_I can't stop thinking about what you said earlier._

The reply was nearly instantaneous, as if Colin had been sitting with his mobile waiting. _Sorry if I upset you._

 _More worried than upset. Don't want to ruin this right here._ Geoffrey wanted to add that he needed it too much, but that might be adding fuel to the fire.

 _Never want to lose this. Let's promise._ It was such a Colin thing to ask. Geoffrey rubbed his eyes, got up and went into the loo to splash cold water on his face. When he got back to the bed, where he'd left his mobile, he had a new message. _You are coming out of there, aren't you?_

Sheepishly, Geoffrey gathered his coat and wallet, opened the door of his room and almost fell into Colin's arms, since Colin was standing just opposite the door, looking fretful and nervous and terribly happy to see him. That smile, and the way it made Geoffrey's chest clench, ripped away whatever layers of denial to which Geoffrey might have been clinging.

"Did you think I was planning to sneak out past you in the lobby?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

"The thought did cross my mind." Colin smiled again, and there was no way for Geoffrey to retrace his steps. Time was that it would have been his groin tightening instead of his chest -- one of the many things that might have made Colin unsay what he'd said, if Colin had given Geoffrey time to explain -- but too late now, too late for a lot of things. "I didn't mean to hurry you, if you aren't ready..." Colin gestured at the half-open door.

"Come in." Geoffrey wasn't certain what he wanted to say next, but he was certain that he didn't want to say it in a hotel corridor, and the only alternative was to stride purposefully toward the lift while changing the subject to where they were going to eat. He stepped back and Colin stepped forward, a bit like a dance, until Geoffrey had to turn to shut the door while Colin stepped past him, glancing around the impersonal room.

Then Colin turned back to him just as Geoffrey stepped into the narrow hall that separated the bath area from the rest of the room, and as if at some agreed-upon signal they reached out and hugged. They'd done it many times -- after finishing scenes, saying hello and goodbye at press junkets and parties, on stages in front of thousands of people, at airports and in hotel lobbies -- but never alone like this, never fraught with so much meaning.

"You're shaking," Geoffrey realized. He'd thought it was just himself.

"I didn't sleep at all. Not the night before, either. I'd think, I won't say anything and things will be the way they have been and it will be enough, and then I'd think, but it isn't enough and what if he thinks so too. And then I'd think that if I did say something, you might uninvite me. And then you might stop texting me."

"I wouldn't ever do that." It had been so easy, during the months of separation, to pretend that there wasn't a physical aspect and never had been -- fine, during filming, but that was energy generated in part by playing those characters, and then afterward all through awards season because they'd been playing characters then too, the two affable middle-aged men who'd become fast friends when a script brought them together. It hadn't been necessary to determine precisely what was for show and what was forever. Geoffrey was the one who had tended to laugh and make light of it, whether it was telling the world that Colin had said they should have kissed or going along with Oprah when she used a phrase like "boy crush."

He felt Colin's breath catch and had to steady his own. "All right. Now I've told you," Colin said, the words warm against his ear. "I don't suppose it changes anything, since you're going to be halfway round the world at the end of the week. Now perhaps we had better have dinner." Colin chuckled softly.

Dinner, yes. They needed to get out of that room before someone did or said something they might both regret later -- something more, at least. Geoffrey didn't think he could bear to be anywhere with a crowd of people, not even anywhere they might be recognized. "Someplace very nearby and very out of the way," he agreed, catching and squeezing Colin's hand, standing like that for much longer than necessary, until he trusted himself to take two steps without grabbing Colin again.

Fortunately, Colin knew the city very well -- knew where there was a Persian restaurant down an alley, at least, where the waiters spoke to each other in Farsi and the small group of diners didn't appear to notice them, let alone to care who they were. They sat in a corner with no windows under a large decorative painting and shared Tabrizi bread and a bottle of wine, talking easily about their children and terrible scripts they'd read as though the earlier madness had never happened.

As Geoffrey had predicted, Colin insisting on paying. They walked along the river after eating, paying little attention to the sights along the skyline, following the Embankment in the damp evening chill until they paused to sit on a wall in one of the public parks, pressed close together because the night had grown quite cold. Colin kept his hands in his pockets and laughed as Geoffrey drew pictures for him in the air, enjoying the sound of Colin's voice; he'd grown used to having to imagine how it would sound saying words that often arrived abbreviated.

Colin kept up with Geoffrey's nervous chatter and laughed at his jokes, so that by the time they got up for the walk back to Geoffrey's hotel, things were almost as they had been. There might still have been a moment of awkwardness as Geoffrey tried to figure out how to ask Colin when he could see him again, though a discussion of their schedules made it apparent that Colin needed to be near the hotel again the next day, and Geoffrey insisted that he owed Colin a meal.

Then what? An easy wave, a hug goodnight? A casual invitation to come up?

"Livia told me --" Colin made a strange gesture behind himself. He was blushing. "She said I was sulking. Which isn't true, I wasn't sulking, I was just a bit weepy. She told me not to come home if I'd rather be here."

"You were weepy?" Geoffrey tried not to show his surprise. He'd seen Colin cry over movies, even old historical footage of George VI, but never over anything personal.

"Hopeless. I couldn't bear the thought that you would be right in London but I'd only get to see you for an hour here or there. I know you must need time to rest before your meetings..."

"Never mind about that. Your wife won't mind if you...stay out?"

Geoffrey didn't quite believe the shake of Colin's head. As long as he didn't interrupt family dinners or private time, Jane would not complain about Geoffrey's closeness with Colin, though Jane had been known to joke publicly that Geoffrey's boyfriend was beeping him when he dove for his mobile.

Livia, too, had made comments in his presence about people who relied overmuch on their technology, suggesting that it was an environmental hazard as well as a nuisance if Colin texted Geoffrey too often. Given Livia's passion for environmentalism, it was possible that she believed that, but it had sounded to Geoffrey at the time like a veiled warning with consequences more local than global. "You're sure?" he asked more sharply than he intended.

Colin hung his head, exhaling hard. "I'm not sure that she won't mind, only that she won't be surprised," he said in a low voice. "She offered me the choice and I took it."

Though he knew it might be a huge mistake, Geoffrey gestured toward the lifts. "Come on, then." He knew he wasn't thinking clearly from the falling sensation when Colin smiled at him, even as the lift was going up.

They scarcely made it through the door to the room before wrapping their arms around one another again, as if they might not remain upright without that support. Geoffrey hadn't even turned the main light on. Rather self-consciously, they disentangled themselves, stepping back enough to look at one another in the sudden illumination. Colin blushed as he smiled. "This way at least I have the entire evening to convince you that I haven't --"

There wasn't a moment when Geoffrey made a decision, nor even a moment when he was aware of being in the midst of choosing. He was only aware of watching Colin's eyes and Colin's mouth, then of being too close to see either clearly.

"Did you do that, or did I?" Colin asked him several minutes later, after one kiss, then another to make certain that they'd been equally enthusiastic about the first, and then another after that to establish that it really _had_ been that good.

"I did," said Geoffrey, happy to own it.

"Well, that complicates things, doesn't it?" Colin was smiling, his chin brushing Geoffrey's, eyes crinkling at the corners which were the only part Geoffrey could see clearly at this proximity. "I knew it."

"Knew that it wasn't just you?"

"Knew that it wasn't just --" Colin's arm swung out, changed its mind and wrapped around Geoffrey again. "You know, casual or confused or misread signals." He paused, still too close for Geoffrey to read his expression. "Knew that you _are_ my last great love."

Geoffrey had to sit down before his legs refused to hold him up. Unfortunately the nearest place was the bed, which he knew might convey an entirely unintended (or perhaps intended) message, in either case not necessarily the right one just then. "Come here," he said and knew from the slant of Colin's eyebrows that Colin had leapt to precisely the conclusion Geoffrey had hoped he wouldn't. "Just to sit, so I don't fall into a swoon."

That got the hoped-for grin out of Colin, and they sat, side by side, arms pressed together, looking at the cabinet that held the silent television. "I didn't ask about _your_ wife," he pointed out. "If she finds out, is she going to take your mobile away? Or something far more personal?"

"Both safe, I think." Geoffrey chuckled. "She likes you. In some strange way she thinks you're good for me." He glanced over at Colin's profile. He'd lost weight since they'd filmed together, his jaw was more sharply delineated; Geoffrey wanted to touch it, to take Colin's face in both his hands as if they were about to do a speech therapy exercise, to move his hands through his hair with the same fascination with which Colin had stroked his bald head the first time he'd seen it shaved.

Colin rubbed a finger over his lip, remembering kisses or maybe irritated from stubble he wasn't used to feeling. "When we got married, I told Livia I was never going to be famous or wealthy -- not ambitious enough. I didn't want that life. I made enough money, when the boys were young, even if some of the roles were shit. She was a bit piqued, at first, about all the traveling in the past couple of years. But she would never deny that she loves the red carpets, the chance to dress up and meet people she considers influential -- she's changed more than I have, I think. I'm just as happy to go back to the way things were, with a few dozen more scripts I don't want to do coming in. She'd rather not give up all the rest."

"Is that why I'm a permissible evil?" joked Geoffrey.

The bed heaved as Colin turned to look at him, turning not just his head but most of his body. "Don't call yourself that," he said. "I want no guilt between us."

"Then maybe we shouldn't do anything that might lead to guilt." Geoffrey glanced away, and at once felt Colin's fingers slide through his. "As you said, I'll be halfway around the world at the end of the week."

"And I'll cry a bit and text you constantly no matter what." The fingers squeezed. Geoffrey squeezed back. "We did promise, didn't we?"

It was awkward, embracing in that position, with their legs crushed together and their upper bodies twisted together. They wound up lying down, with Colin snuggled against his chest and his arm around Geoffrey's waist. Geoffrey wanted to make a joke about how Colin should know that these days it took him half the night to do what he used to spend half the night doing, but Colin hummed contentedly and after a few minutes Geoffrey wondered whether he'd misinterpreted entirely...whether this was all that Colin wanted, which, while disappointing to his ego (and truth be told to his prick), would leave matters much less complicated between them than he had feared.

"You smell good," murmured Colin, face against Geoffrey's neck. "Remember when I fell asleep in your room in Toronto and you let me stay there because you thought I was exhausted? I was actually awake when you came to bed. I lay there in the dark listening to you breathe and thinking that you smelled good then."

Geoffrey remembered very well. He'd moved as quietly and carefully as possible to avoid waking Colin, not wanting him to get up and insist on going back to his own room when it had been so comfortable with both of them there. They'd had breakfast together afterward as though it were the most natural thing in the world for the two of them to share a bed.

"Makes me want..."

The pressure of Colin's tongue along his throat made Geoffrey shiver, hips bucking in helpless response. Colin's hum turned into a purr, hands sliding lower, giving Geoffrey a squeeze that could only be described as suggestive. "Fuck," Geoffrey choked out.

Colin grinned up at him. "On the first date?" He blushed a bit. "I haven't done anything with a man in years. And there were usually drugs involved."

Geoffrey hadn't needed drugs as an excuse when he was young and a bit crazy with freedom in Paris, but that had been decades ago and with no one he'd ever have thought might be one of the great loves of his life. "I haven't either. With or without drugs. This may have to be something of an experiment..."

Rather than appearing taking aback, Colin looked pleased. "I like experimenting with you. I liked improvising in rehearsals. You do want to, don't you?"

There was no point in pretending -- even if Geoffrey had wanted to, his prick was making its wishes obvious and Geoffrey was pretty sure Colin could feel it. "I do," he confessed.

He'd figured out standing by the door that Colin was a good kisser, so it wasn't a surprise that Colin lying on a bed pressed close while kissing was breathtaking. He needn't have worried about his age, either, fearing he couldn't keep up, since Colin apparently preferred things slow and deliberate, simultaneously sweet and maddening. Geoffrey couldn't have said when he realized that Colin had managed to untuck his shirt while moving hands over his back -- not, at least, until the shock of Colin's fingers against his bare skin made him jolt -- nor did he remember either of them taking off his shoes, though there he was giggling as Colin's toes wriggled their way beneath the band of his sock.

"Will you be offended if I need to run to the loo, first?" he asked Colin, who laughed.

"Course not." They shared another kiss, slow and full of promise, before Geoffrey disentangled himself. He'd forgotten that the mobile was still in his pocket until it vibrated loudly while he was washing, trousers still on the floor because he hadn't decided whether he should pull them back up.

_I really do love you. I never want to do anything to mess with that-not even this, if you're not sure._

_I am sure._ He wanted to type "I'm very sure" but apostrophes were complicated. _Are you?_

_Yes. Just didn't want to make you hide._

_I could never hide from you even if I tried._ Trousers off, he decided, swiping the little bottle of lotion on the sink with a label that matched the shampoo and soap. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Colin grinned when he emerged, leaning back against the pillows with his shirt open and his head propped on an arm, showing just enough chest and armpit hair to make Geoffrey's prick perk up. "Will you be offended if I'd prefer the lights off? I promise it's me, not you," added Colin with a nervous laugh, patting his own belly.

"I won't be offended," Geoffrey assured him, crossing to the bed, snapping off the overhead on the way. Whatever regret he might have felt at not seeing all of Colin was surpassed by his relief at not having to be on display, though he imagined that Colin had snuck in viewings of his relevant movies the way Geoffrey had snuck in viewings of Colin's. He heard a rustle of fabric as he returned in the dimness that meant Colin had flung off the bedspread.

They lay down again together, and again Colin lay quietly snuggled against Geoffrey for a few minutes, broad hands stroking over his back, lips and nose brushing his neck. Eventually Colin raised his face for a kiss, and his hands were much less shy than earlier, sliding down, squeezing, tugging Geoffrey against him and rubbing.

"I'm afraid that these days I'm only good for once a night," Colin whispered apologetically.

With a helpless laugh, Geoffrey kissed him again. "I've only been good for once a night for years." Sometimes even once a night was asking too much, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be a problem with Colin. "Want a drink, first?"

"No. I want to remember everything clearly when you've gone." Geoffrey's throat felt funny whenever Colin talked about him leaving. He nodded, sliding a hand down one arm to help Colin out of his shirt. Nerves made his belly flutter, but the more they touched with skin on skin, the more that became a pleasurable sensation.

Colin seemed determined to take his time, and Geoffrey was more than happy to let him, though his prick was responding to every new touch the way it had thirty years earlier and he thought that if Colin had wanted it quick and rough he might even have managed it. Instead Colin was a delightful combination of eagerness and shyness, even a bit of a gentleman, asking "May I...?" before putting his hand where Geoffrey had wanted it since he'd returned to the bed, and he couldn't help laughing as he nodded and pushed into Colin's fingers.

"Tell me what you'd like," murmured Colin, the words polite, the growl in his voice anything but.

Geoffrey hadn't kept Durex around in decades and wasn't sure he wanted to know if Colin had them in his wallet. He was too long out of practice and too uncertain in the role to improvise. "I'd like more of _this_ ," he growled back, thrusting his hips forward as he plunged his hand beneath the waistband of Colin's boxer shorts. _Toss your leg over my hip and rub_ , he wanted to say.

Colin must have read his mind, for he did just that, yanking down Geoffrey's pants before putting his arms around Geoffrey's neck, sliding so that their faces were level and their eyes met. "I imagined this so many times," he said hoarsely. "Standing up in a bathroom stall or lying in my trailer."

"I thought it was just the film," Geoffrey told him, gasping a bit because Colin's prick felt so good rubbing his own.

"I did too, at first, but it's been months and months and I keep wanting you more." Colin's eyes rolled back in pleasure for a moment when Geoffrey's hips bucked enthusiastically at this revelation. "Wanted you closer than texting." His eyelashes fluttered and parted, revealing in the dimness that same shy, delighted expression. "May I...?" He gestured downward.

Though not entirely sure what Colin was asking, Geoffrey knew that he was too far gone to object to whatever it might be. "Anything you want," he agreed. Promptly Colin kissed him and wriggled around -- he was tall even for a king sized bed -- rubbing his cheek against Geoffrey's belly before brushing his lips over the head of Geoffrey's cock.

"Bigger than I'm used to," he said with a grin that Geoffrey could hear in his voice.

Geoffrey had seen enough to know that Colin's was proportional and Colin was taller than he was. "I doubt that," he said, shifting, reaching to find Colin's hip. They both sat up for a moment to settle at a better angle, so that Geoffrey ended up facing the foot of the bed with Colin's prick brushing his chin. "This is quite large."

A surprisingly loud laugh floated down to him as Colin's breath warmed his entire lower body. "Not as big as yours, and you're impressive even with a film crew watching." So Colin really had watched _Quills_. That was either flattering or unnerving, since Geoffrey knew he had no hope of living up to any level of perversion attributed to him from the movie.

"Prosthetics," Geoffrey told him, waiting for Colin to laugh again before he busied his mouth kissing and licking the truly quite large prick bobbing against his jaw. It had been a long time, he wasn't sure he'd ever been terribly good at this in the first place, and he'd be lucky to fit half of it in his mouth, let alone the entire length. Colin made a soft happy noise before he muffled himself by sliding his lips around the head of Geoffrey's prick and sucking, making Geoffrey's hips buck because it was harder than he was used to or maybe just because he hadn't been expecting so much so soon.

It was too quiet, or rather, as sexy as the wet noises they were making with their mouths and pricks might have been, Geoffrey had preferred it when Colin was laughing and telling him exactly what was in his head, the way they'd been doing with text messages for months. He hummed a bit and Colin hummed back, so he hummed some more and moaned when Colin stroked his balls and even though he usually didn't talk during sex -- Jane didn't like it, she said it spoiled her concentration -- soon he was muttering nonsense, "mmmmm yes" and "so good" and the kinds of things people usually only said during terrible sex scenes that were embarrassing to watch.

"It's all good," Colin muttered as he shifted position, wrapping his fingers around the lower part of Geoffrey's prick and casting a quick glance up at him. "It is, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, better than good," Geoffrey replied, hiding his blush against Colin's thigh, taking a deep breath because he wanted to memorize how Colin smelled (soap, fabric softener, sex). Later he knew he'd look for better words, maybe even text Colin about it if they could laugh about it so soon, if it wasn't too painful not to be together for such conversation. "I'm trying to remember how to do this," he confessed, chuckling.

"Just do what you like and let me..."

Colin's mouth was busy again, irresistibly arousing when it was talking and licking and kissing at the same time, and as much as Geoffrey wanted to thrust into that heat until it pushed him over, he wanted to see Colin's face even more. "Would you mind if we turned back around?" he asked. Colin made a small noise of surprise, but he let Geoffrey flip up and bring them face to face, though Colin was hesitating now as if he thought he'd done something wrong.

Geoffrey kissed him, exploring his mouth hungrily. It tasted different at first because Colin's tongue had been all over Geoffrey, but soon they were both groaning and sucking on each other's lips and tongues as Geoffrey wrapped a leg over Colin's hip and found the little bottle he'd taken from the loo, squeezing out a palmful of the stuff and letting it warm between his fingers before reaching for Colin's prick. His hand glided smoothly over the length, tugging up and down, and he watched Colin's face, pressing his own prick against the residual dampness that rubbed onto Colin's belly.

"I'll come if you keep that up." Colin's voice was hoarse, his fingers trembling on Geoffrey's skin, moving in a stuttering rhythm. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes, anything, anything you want..." His reply was cut off when Colin's mouth found his for a breathless, sloppy kiss, though they were both moving too much and panting too hard to keep it up for long. He could tell from how Colin's balls felt in the hand not on Colin's prick that Colin was close, and he could tell from how Colin groaned and twitched that Colin liked it when he let a finger slide up the back.

"Geoff-- " Colin went rigid all over, in Geoffrey's hand, against Geoffrey's prick, then he convulsed and came so hard that the headboard creaked and made a cracking noise. If he hadn't been so close himself, Geoffrey would have laughed in delight at the sound.

As it was he could manage only a small urgent moan, rubbing his wet fingers against Colin's belly and rubbing his prick in the trail they left, feeling Colin squeeze his bum and maneuver a hand between them to wrap around him, at which point all the sensations were too overwhelming to separate. He gave himself over to Colin's touch and Colin's smell all around him and Colin murmuring in his ear, nothing terribly distinct, thanks and encouragement, and though at his age he usually worried that he'd take too long and tire out his wife, he was gone in less than a minute.

"You were right." Colin's whisper and his breath against Geoffrey's ear brought Geoffrey back to himself. "It's better when I can see your face."

"It's too dark for you to see my face," muttered Geoffrey, aware of how red and scrunched and distorted it must have been a few seconds earlier.

"No it's not." Colin's lips turned up against his ear. "Next time I might let you leave the lights on, though, if you promise not to poke me in the belly and point out the obvious."

Geoffrey couldn't help himself. Grinning, he poked Colin's belly. Colin wriggled all over, laughing. "Does that tickle?"

"Not very -- stop!" The bed creaked again as Colin, giggling, tried to still Geoffrey's hands. "I think we did something to the headboard."

"That was all you, love." Geoffrey stopped tickling to let Colin wipe him off with the corner of the sheet, then lay back as Colin snuggled into his arms the way he had earlier. "You had better be very certain no one sees you leave in the morning."

"Does that mean you'll let me stay till morning, then?" Colin gave him a squeeze, already settled against Geoffrey as if he'd always belonged there. "You did say 'next time.'"

Geoffrey wondered when Colin would need to be at home. Whether Colin had texted Livia while Geoffrey had been in the loo, How much havoc they were at risk of wreaking. He already knew he liked the rewards too much to concentrate on the risk. "I had tomorrow night in mind, not tomorrow morning. If you're free," he said.

"I am. I cancelled everything nonessential for the week as soon as I knew that you were coming. I knew I'd be distracted even if I couldn't see you much." Colin's lashes fluttered against Geoffrey's neck. "I wanted to text and tell you so but I was afraid you might schedule some more meetings just to keep things safe."

They'd moved past safe a long time before that night, Geoffrey knew. Even if he'd been pretending otherwise and Jane had to sound the alarm. "Just remember that you made me a promise," he said.

Colin nodded, thick hair brushing the underside of Geoffrey's chin. "We both made that promise. The thing is, you may be the last love of my life but I hope this won't be the last time we do this."

"We can promise that too, if you like."

"Yes, let's." Colin's head lifted. His eyes gleamed in the dim room. "May I say it to your face?"

Geoffrey started to ask what, then realized and felt himself warm all over. He might have stayed a coward if it hadn't been for the comparative safety of text messages. "Any time you like, my love," he said.

Despite the lights being off, Colin's smile was unmistakable. "My love," he echoed. "I haven't said that to very many people, you know." He laid his head over Geoffrey's heart. "I love you."

"I love you too." Once the words were out, it seemed as though they'd been saying them for a long time...and perhaps they had, just not those very words and not in voice instead of text. "Feels a bit odd not to be typing it out."

"We can practice tomorrow when you're in your meetings." Colin sighed happily. "And other things for when we're farther apart."

"We'll never be farther apart than I am from my mobile," Geoffrey assured him. "I intend to keep you."

"Last," murmured Colin, already half asleep. Geoffrey didn't know whether he meant the last love of his life or that it would last, but either way, he nodded.

"Definitely last."


	2. Long Distance

It was lunacy even to consider -- they might have been on the same continent, but New York was still several hours from Toronto, and they both had premieres and press junkets and wives accompanying them. More than just distance had separated them during the previous year, though they'd tried to keep it otherwise; the text messages had been fewer, the phone calls rare, though Geoffrey hoped that Colin's thoughts wandered to him as often as his own did to Colin.

"Go," Jane insisted somewhat irritably when Geoffrey told her that he'd decided not to -- definitively, this time. "You'll only mope if you don't."

Moping would be preferable to being pushed aside, which Geoffrey knew was a real possibility, since Colin's movie was due to have a much larger studio opening and Livia wanted him to appear at every event where his clothes might be noticed. But his two-word reply to Geoffrey's query about Colin's birthday plans -- _Absolutely nothing_ , even though Geoffrey had seen a note in a New York paper that Emily Blunt was throwing Colin a party after a screening -- changed his mind again.

Jane wanted to visit an old friend anyway, and Geoffrey had run out of things to say about hoping there would be a fifth _Pirates_ movie. If he and Colin could only steal an hour together, it would be better than nothing. _I'm coming to kidnap you_ , he informed Colin.

 _Careful_ , Colin texted back. _I might not let you leave._

Geoffrey's only concern from that point, other than a nagging worry that Livia would be less than pleased to have Geoffrey intruding, was being recognized in one airport or the other. He was supposed to be in New York promoting a film he'd decided to do for love and friendship, not to further his career -- though really, at his age, it was probably ludicrous to think in such terms. The opening had gone well, his reviews had been good, but it was a small film at a small festival despite its New York setting. Did he dare hope to escape unnoticed?

Even wearing a hat and glasses, his hair and nose made him much too identifiable, and he couldn't fly in the middle of the night if he hoped to catch Colin awake and unscheduled. He was grateful that Toronto was a city he knew well; he needed to take back routes to avoid the crowds there for the film festival that seemed to grow larger every year.

The hug he got from Colin as he was pulled bodily into the hotel room made it all worthwhile. "Oh God, I wasn't sure you were serious." Colin locked the door, giving Geoffrey a moment to look around and realize that there was no evidence anyone else had shared this room. Perhaps Livia had stayed in London; he hadn't dared to ask. "I couldn't think about anything but seeing you, I've been so distracted, I had to plead jetlag in every single interview, they're all going to be writing about how rude I've become since the fucking Oscar..."

Geoffrey shut him up with a kiss. They didn't have time for shyness. From the way Colin grabbed him, backing him into the room, Colin was in agreement. Colin's eyes were bloodshot and his face looked a bit puffy, as if he hadn't had enough sleep in days, but there was no clumsiness as he urged Geoffrey toward the bed.

"I've gained a bit of weight since I last saw you." It was probably unnecessary but the eagerness with which Colin was tugging at his shirt made Geoffrey self-conscious.

"I've gained more than a bit, so shut up." Colin was grinning against his mouth, sliding his hands over Geoffrey's belly as if whatever extra flesh might be there was just for him. "You have no idea how much I've missed you. I hate being in this city without you, although I hate being in Los Angeles without you and every single night I spent in Australia without you..."

Those weeks had been agony, knowing Colin was on his own continent to film yet able to get away to see him only once. And having Colin in his own house brought its own miseries, wanting those memories -- Colin had plenty of Geoffrey in his home in London, Geoffrey had spent enough time there while they were pretending it was all about the film -- and at the same time aching because he couldn't even touch Colin with his kids in and out all afternoon.

"You always smell so good," Colin groaned, face against Geoffrey's throat, and Geoffrey blushed because he knew he smelled like the cigarettes he'd officially quit smoking years ago -- it was always just a couple, didn't count, and then he was smoking again until it started to affect his voice. "I've had too much to drink, I couldn't get away from that party..."

"We'll go slowly, then," Geoffrey assured him, though it was already a lie, they were pawing at each other more frantically than ever, clothes tossed and kicked in every direction. Colin wasn't polite as he had been the first time and for the most part every time since, he was urgent and demanding, pressing hard enough with his lips and teeth to leave marks.

"Will you fuck me?" Colin asked, voice breaking a bit on the hard syllable, fingers digging into Geoffrey's arms as if he thought Geoffrey might get up and leave rather than answer the question.

"Yes. God, of course I will." Above him, Colin shuddered. "Are you sure you --"

"Please, I want to make love. Even if it's shit, even if it doesn't work, I want to know that we wanted to enough to try." The bed heaved as Colin rolled, pulling Geoffrey with him, spreading his legs and wrapping them around Geoffrey. "The next time I can't see you for months and months I want to remember that you were inside me."

They never had, during the brief times they'd been together; they'd never had more than a couple of nights at a time, they'd spent them in easy pleasure without talk of condoms or who was going to top. "You don't always text me," Geoffrey blurted out, not what he had meant to say or even to think, grasping at something he'd thought had slipped away, or worse, that he had let slip away.

"I know. I'm sorry. I mean to, I think about you all the time, but then it seems so inane to tell you whatever ridiculous thing when what I want to say is I love you oh please come be with me even though I know it's impossible..." Again Geoffrey had to shut him up with a kiss. It was probably the alcohol talking. "I'll be better, I promise. I always feel better when you tell me any little thing. Like we're sharing a life together, no matter where we are."

"If you keep talking like this I'll be a blubbering mess and then my prick won't work." Despite Colin's rolling and rubbing, they were both only half-hard, getting used to each other again. Like the first time, though that had been warm and happy without these fierce sharp feelings that were working their way into how they touched, how hard they kissed and how bruisingly they clutched at each other.

"I'm sorry. There's always so much I want to tell you when I see you, and not enough time." Colin's hands gentled. "You know, don't you? That I love you? And when I didn't write it was because I was too sad, not because I didn't miss you?"

The kisses were changing, becoming slower and deeper, and Geoffrey's cock was responding both to that and to the words. "I love you," he murmured, feeling Colin shudder and clutch at him in response. "But I did wonder, when you didn't write."

"Don't wonder. I was afraid that if you joked about it, I'd do something mad like get on a plane and fly halfway around the world to see you."

So much for worrying about the madness of coming to Toronto from New York. Geoffrey stopped thinking, let himself get lost in Colin's kisses and the steady press of their bodies, which had come to a silent understanding while they'd been talking. He had made jokes like that, and he'd known full well that if Colin had in a fit of madness turned up on his doorstep, he'd have disappeared with him that moment.

Beyond fear and frantic need lay the same delight that he had always felt with Colin, the same sense of wonder that such a connection could have come to him so late in life, the same happiness. Colin's hair was still thick and coarse beneath his fingers, his fingers were still eager and sure on Geoffrey's skin, he still groaned and writhed in pleasure when Geoffrey moved his mouth lower. "I want this," Geoffrey told him, stroking Colin's balls, allowing himself a bit of a growl just to feel Colin quiver.

"Anything, please, all of it, any way you want!" Colin's hips tilted. "I didn't have time to shop. It'll have to be cheap condoms and lube."

It had been a long time since Geoffrey had had reason to acquaint himself with cheap condoms, and he was clumsy with the lube -- it had been an even longer time since he'd been familiar with another man's arsehole. Colin was so eager and encouraging, however, that he didn't have time to be embarrassed about it, though they both burst out laughing at the anatomical awkwardness.

Colin was right: even if the sex was terrible, the shared experience would be worth remembering. And they couldn't stop kissing, even when kissing required moving at uncomfortable angles.

"If you get me any more ready, I'm going to come before you're inside me," Colin warned him, even though Geoffrey doubted very much that that was true -- they were both so overstimulated that their erections had wavered.

"Help me get this damn thing on." Colin looked for a moment like he might suggest not bothering, then seemed to understand that that would require a much longer conversation and shook his head slightly, reaching to rip the packet with fingers less slippery than Geoffrey's. Then he surprised Geoffrey, sitting up and ducking his head with the condom still in his hand, sucking until Geoffrey was fully hard and groaning. "Oh, stop!"

"Don't want to risk this coming off. I've only got the three." Grinning wickedly, Colin unrolled the condom over him with a single fluid motion, then lay back with his legs spread as wide as his smile, which Geoffrey suspected was to cover his nervousness. "Come here."

"Stop me if I..."

"You won't. Well, you might, it's been aeons, but I will never want you to stop. Please." And what could Geoffrey do but obey, when everything in him had wanted this for so long he couldn't remember how it felt to look at Colin and not want it? Suppose they'd guessed at it all those years ago when they'd first met? No -- they'd had young families, they'd been content as friends, there hadn't been the same sense of time slipping away, of passion demanding to be satisfied while they still could.

It occurred to Geoffrey that he hadn't been inside anyone else since Jane, an absurd thing to think of just now since he knew he had her blessing, there was no question of infidelity; she had chosen to allow him happiness. He allowed himself a split second to wonder whether Colin's wife had ever seen him pulling himself open, offering up his arse -- no, Colin had said it had been aeons and Colin wouldn't lie to him, not like this.

"That's mine," he said, surprising himself with the words and the growl in his voice. Surprising Colin as well, so much so that Colin was still moaning as Geoffrey lunged forward, pressing inside him.

He knew he must be hurting him, too much too fast, even though Colin was younger than Geoffrey his body wouldn't adjust so quickly, but Colin held on and refused to let him pull back, and Geoffrey didn't have enough control to struggle. He thrust and thrust, fumbling between them, letting Colin take his hand and move it the way Colin wanted, which was sexier than it had any business being. But that was true of everything about Colin, the odd sparse patch of dark hair on his mostly smooth chest, the wiry hair on his legs which tickled Geoffrey's sides, the way his mouth hung open as he grunted...

Geoffrey leaned down for a breathless kiss, shuddering at the way the fingers on Colin's free hand wove into his hair to keep his mouth close, trying to move his hips steadily instead of wildly but knowing that he was going to lose the battle. At least Colin, who could be reserved to the point of stuffiness in public, was coming apart as well, tossing his head and muttering: "Oh God, yes, Geoff, wanted this, love you, don't stop, fuck!"

"Love --" That was all Geoffrey could get out while his senses were so overloaded. Ridiculous, he'd been fucking for nearly three quarters of his life, there wasn't much he hadn't experienced, you would think he could -- Christ, Colin's muscles gripped him unexpectedly and a shout tore itself from his throat. He tightened his fingers, forcing Colin to wank faster, listening to the bed creak.

Colin was chanting the word, "Love, love," clenching his eyes shut, and though Geoffrey knew Colin couldn't possibly be there yet, he couldn't hold himself back. He thrust in and came like the world was ending, like he might never get to do it again.

"You're amazing." Colin's voice, hoarse, uneven, brought Geoffrey out of whatever heaven had taken him in when the room disappeared, though if he had to leave heaven, finding himself wrapped up in Colin made up for it. He lifted his head to find Colin smiling, though Colin's prick was still in his hand and just as hard as ever. "No, don't move -- I want to look at you like this for a minute."

Geoffrey had seen himself in a mirror after coming enough times to know that his face was splotched and sweaty and his mouth was hanging open like a drooling baby's, but he couldn't refuse Colin anything, so he grinned and tried not to blush any more than he was already doing. He wanted to look at Colin like this too, while arousal was still darkening Colin's eyes.

"Was it all right?" asked Colin, his gaze abruptly dropping.

"Glorious. Look at me." Happiness changed Colin's entire face, even when he wasn't quite smiling. "You are in very grave danger of making me completely in love with you," Geoffrey added, knowing he was misquoting _Pride and Prejudice_ from the laughter that made Colin's breath waver.

"I'm already completely in love with you." Colin's eyes rolled back as Geoffrey moved his hand, still wrapped around Colin's prick. "Oh but if you keep that up..."

Shifting, Geoffrey tried to take his weight off Colin's body without having to pull away from him. He couldn't stay inside him -- these days when his own prick was finished, it was finished -- but he pressed close, knowing he was sticky and sweaty and Colin would never complain. "Would you rather have my mouth?" he whispered in Colin's ear.

Colin shook his head. "I'd rather you talk to me."

Again Geoffrey felt himself blushing. Whenever he tried to talk dirty, he always felt like he was overacting, especially these days when the spirit was willing but the flesh was often weak. "I'm terrible at coming up with superlative phallic metaphors..." he began.

"Not that. Just your voice. I love to listen to you talk." Colin's fingers moved on his wrist, encouraging him to stroke. "Say the things you were saying before."

"When I was complaining?" Geoffrey laughed wryly but Colin nodded, his head tilting back. "That I miss you when I don't hear from you?" A soft moan. "That I look for excuses to do things like jump on a plane to Toronto, on the outside chance that you'll ask me to fuck you?" A louder moan, and Colin's prick throbbed in his hand, the head slick. "That I'd do the same thing, fly halfway around the world if you joked about it, make love to you any way you wanted?"

Colin was writhing, arching off the bed, clawing at the sheets with both hands as Geoffrey stroked him. Geoffrey felt a surge of jealousy toward anyone else who had ever seen him like that. "I wasn't entirely joking when I said I wanted to kidnap you," he growled into Colin's ear. "I could keep you, and love you, and make you come for me..."

He leaned in for a kiss, twisting his hand on Colin's prick, and felt Colin gasp against his mouth, going rigid. This he could do, he knew from their all too rare encounters what Colin liked, and he jacked him off skillfully until Colin came and came all over his hands and belly.

"Kidnap me," Colin said in a slurred voice when he had finally caught his breath.

"I think I already did."

The pillow shifted as Colin's head turned. "You can't possibly think that once is enough."

"If you're under the impression that I can do that again tonight..."

A guffaw cut Geoffrey off. " _I_ can't do that again tonight. Which is why you have to kidnap me. Take me someplace we have enough time to do it until -- no, there is no 'until.' Just someplace we can do it again and again, then some more."

If only there were such a place. If only they hadn't wasted so much time when they'd been thrown together promoting films, though that wasn't fair, that time hadn't been wasted, it had taken that long and then some to recognize what was between them and then to be certain it would survive the enforced intimacy of a press tour, when loneliness quite often led to unlikely pairings. "I would if I could," Geoffrey said honestly, then, more lightly, "Any suggestions?"

"The South Pole. No one will think to look for us there. And if they do, it will be too cold for my wife, and my sons will forgive me as long as I send them a penguin. Will that work with yours?" Teenagers weren't so easily bought, Geoffrey could have explained -- they didn't want him around so much except when they did -- but he knew that even if they were being serious, Colin wouldn't last a week without wanting his boys. They were both greedy: they wanted the lives they already had as well as this life.

Sighing, Colin reached for the edge of the sheet, wiping them both off, and Geoffrey got rid of the condom before it leaked all over the mattress. "I should let you sleep," he said.

"You should not. I can sleep on the plane. I can't see you on the plane." But Colin's eyes were still puffy with exhaustion and his words were slurring again.

"A couple of hours. We'll set an alarm. I want the pleasure of waking up in your arms." Geoffrey smiled and Colin smiled back, his eyes suddenly, suspiciously bright as Geoffrey hunted around for the watch that had never failed him. He pressed the necessary buttons, switched off the light, and wrapped himself around Colin as completely as possible, kissing his forehead.

"You aren't leaving until we have plans to do this again," Colin murmured sleepily.

Rehearsal schedules. Filming schedules. Family time. Holidays. The calendar wasn't the enemy, it was the two of them, compulsive about working, getting their rocks off creatively because it let them live all the other lives they'd never have themselves. Except when it didn't. "After Christmas?" asked Geoffrey, thinking of theater dates and the possibility of being in New York.

"Too many months," grumbled Colin, but he was nodding.

The insistent beep of the alarm woke them both. Geoffrey let go of Colin only long enough to find the watch and shut it off. "Want to go back to sleep?" he asked when Colin tried to rub sleep out of his eyes.

"No. I'll make coffee if you like, but I want to see you while I have the chance to see you." A pause, then Geoffrey found himself being kissed quite thoroughly. "And I want to do a lot of that, even if we aren't up for anything else."

Geoffrey took Colin's face in both his hands. It was too dark to see him properly, but he could make out the shape of the features, the way Colin's hair rebelled and flopped over his forehead, the way Colin didn't blink as he gazed back. He kissed Colin as thoroughly as Colin had kissed him, feeling Colin smile against his mouth, offering his tongue, petting through thick hair and laughing softly at the pleasure of it.

"We aren't turning into old queens, are we?" Colin asked, sounding entirely content with the possibility.

"Darling, I just finished playing Lady Bracknell." They chuckled together. "The dress would have looked better on you."

"Dresses look terrible on me. Don't think I haven't tried to have my agent get me in one." Geoffrey's hand was lifted and placed on Colin's belly. "I have to do something about this before I can wear one properly. Some paparazzo took horrible photos of me in Italy last month..." Colin shuddered.

Geoffrey wasn't about to admit that he'd seen the photos because he checked the internet regularly looking for Colin's name. "They won't see us at the South Pole," he pointed out.

"Plus I doubt we'll want to wear bathing suits there. Especially in winter." Colin's fingers stroked Geoffrey's chest, eliciting a soft shiver of not-quite-arousal. "Maybe not Antarctica. Might be too cold to lie around like this."

"Tasmania, then. If we get itchy you can come back to my house for a swim in the pool." Was it precisely the things that kept their lives so distant that made this longing so keen?

"Works for me," Colin was saying with a smile. "Your wife won't mind?"

"My wife has given up trying to talk sense to me where you're concerned." Chuckling ruefully, Geoffrey asked the more dangerous question. "Won't yours?"

"The same, I think." That, Geoffrey doubted, was true, but perhaps she preferred no struggle at all to a losing one. "As long as I come home and collect her for the big events. She didn't want to leave in the middle of fashion week so she got on Emily's case to wear something of hers to the opening -- keeps us in the news, she says."

Geoffrey wondered whether Colin actually cared in the least whether his suits were made of recycled plastic. What did Colin and Tom Ford talk about -- fashion? Really? Tom was younger than Geoffrey, better looking, and, unless Geoffrey was seriously misreading, interested -- and that film they'd done together must have earned Colin plenty of other offers from men. Again Geoffrey wondered whether the sheer impossibility of whatever was between them was also the catalyst for it.

"You're too quiet," Colin put in.

"Sorry. Brain not firing on all thrusters." He felt more than saw Colin's grin. "What's next for you? The American justice system?"

"A few weeks shooting over here. Maybe I can fly back the long way around the world." Colin's fingers moved counterclockwise over their heads. "You'll be busy, though, singing, won't you?"

"Not too busy to see you. Never too busy for this." The fingers turned, landed on Geoffrey's hand, slid around his wrist. "There's talk of more _Pirates_."

"Couldn't I play the villain? My kids would love that." The fingers tightened on Geoffrey's wrist. "I could abduct you."

"If you made me a good offer, I might go willingly." Against his side, Colin wiggled suggestively, and Geoffrey laughed low in his throat. "Not afraid I might turn on you while you slept?"

"You could do anything you wanted to me while I slept." For the briefest of moments, Colin caught Geoffrey's other wrist, pinning him down. It left Geoffrey breathless, his prick aching as the blood surged into it. Colin's breath was hot against his face. "You're not struggling."

"I never have, with you." The kiss tasted searingly hungry, stealing what was left of Geoffrey's breath, leaving him lightheaded. He wondered what it would be like to work with Colin again, putting on a different character, trying not to bring in too much of the others, trying not to respond like this surrounded by camera crews and makeup and hair people. "Do you want me to struggle?"

"Not now. No games. Not enough time." Colin wasn't quite hard but he was rubbing against Geoffrey, his prick slightly damp, sticking to the skin of Geoffrey's thigh in what felt to Geoffrey like an entirely possessive gesture. Nodding, he tilted his chin for another kiss. "Unless the game you want to play is 'Not leaving.'"

It would cause so much trouble later, between them as well as apart. But Geoffrey could pretend that it wouldn't, for now, for the space of these kisses -- he could play that game. "That one's my favorite," he agreed.


End file.
